UK Offence Report

SCHEDULE 3

SCHEDULE 3 of Police Powers for Designated Staff (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

2 In this paragraph an “imprisonable offence” means an offence which is punishable with imprisonment in the case of

a person aged

21 or over.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
dealing with funds or making them available in breach of sanctions
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach SCHEDULE 3?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Moving, converting or paying away funds that belong to a designated person under the Police Powers for Designated Staff (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008, without a licence from the Treasury.
  2. Making funds or economic resources available to a designated person - which includes paying a third party who will pass on the benefit.
  3. Dealing with an asset in ignorance of the designation is still caught where the provision imposes no knowledge requirement; check the fault element stated below before assuming otherwise.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
4 June 2008
In force from
1 July 2008
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

Part 2 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003 allows the Chief Constable to designate members of the police support staff, and employees of contractors, as officers who may carry out certain functions with certain police powers. These regulations make provision for the handling of complaints against persons so designated, and instances of misconduct by persons so designated. The standard of conduct for persons so designated is set out in the code of ethics issued by the Northern Ireland Policing Board under section 52 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000. As provided for in section 37 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003, this code is applied to designated persons by the Police Powers for Designated Staff (Code of Ethics) Order (Northern Ireland) 2008. Part II of these regulations provides for Part 7 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998, (which makes provision about police complaints and disciplinary proceedings) to apply with modifications to designated persons. The modifications, and additional provisions about the handling of complaints against designated persons, are set out in detail in Part IV of these regulations. Part III of these regulations provides for the suspension of a designated person, and the withdrawal or modification of a designation. Part V makes provision about cases where the designated person concerned is employed by a contractor. Part VI makes provision about cases where the designated person concerned is a member of the police support staff. Part VII makes provision for misconduct proceedings to be brought in a case where the designated person concerned is a member of the police support staff.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source